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The Annual Browns Blood Drive

The Cleveland Browns and the American Red Cross, a community partner of the Browns, held their annual Blood Drive on Saturday July 29th. With 12 different locations throughout Northeast Ohio, donors had an assortment of places to give back.

Every donor walked away with a commemorative Browns blood drive t-shirt, tickets to the August 21st preseason game against the New York Giants, and had the chance to win other great prizes such as memorabilia and training camp passes.

Those who chose to donate at the Berea Recreation Center were visited by both Browns Mascot Chomps and distinguished Alumnae, Felix Wright. “I would encourage everyone who is healthy and able who can to give blood and help others,” proclaimed Wright. “To say you saved someone’s life is indescribable.”

Alongside Felix, other Browns Alumni Frank Stams and Dave Wohlabaugh attended other blood drive sites in order to thank all those who came out to donate.

All those who attended any drive were also given the opportunity to sign up for the First and Ten Movement. This movement was created over three years ago to inspire others to give back to their local community by pledging to volunteer 10 hours of their time.

By pledging to give back 10 hours to their community, volunteers and donors were given a signature orange wristband. The wristband is a constant reminder of the pledge to #give10. The same wristband is rocked by numerous Browns players who have made the very same pledge.

The annual Blood Drive is a signature time for fans to #give10 and volunteer with the Browns through the First and Ten movement.

Since the partnership with the Cleveland Browns, the Red Cross has collected over 9,000 pints of blood for patients in need.

This summer the Red Cross issued an emergency call for all eligible donors to give blood during their critical blood shortage.

In the past two months, blood donations have fallen short resulting in about 61,000 fewer donations than needed. This shortfall is equivalent to the Red Cross not collecting any blood donations for more than four days straight.

The Red Cross needs nearly 14,000 blood donations daily for patients at approximately 2,600 hospitals across the country. By partnering with the Browns, the Red Cross has been able to meet the needs of thousands of patients during their shortages!

Over 535 pints of blood were collected and nearly 1,600 patients could be impacted by this year’s drive. Both the Browns and American Red Cross are thankful to all who came out and donated this past Saturday!

Follow @BrownsGiveBack on Twitter and Instagram and tell us what you are doing to help others using #give10 to unite us all as Browns fans. Give 10 hours, help your community.

The Browns are dedicated to #give10 through the team’s First and Ten initiative. Launched in June 2014, the Cleveland Browns First and Ten campaign is the team’s community program, established to inspire fans to volunteer in and help their communities throughout the world by volunteering for 10 hours each year. Since its inception, Browns fans have committed to volunteering more than 1 million hours to impact their communities by pledging to #give10. Through First and Ten, the Browns are the only NFL club to promote a long-term volunteering program that unifies the team and its entire fan base, with the goal of impacting every individual’s city across the globe, as well as the franchise’s local community. All Browns fans are encouraged to join the volunteering effort by signing the First and Ten pledge on the team’s website and by sharing their stories with #give10